Gone Sailing / Pondering - Issue 9
After another 24 hours of bobbing around the ocean doing much of the same as the past few days (changing and trimming sails to suit the wind strength and direction, eating, reading, wriggling in and out of wet weather gear while trying to keep your balance, bouncing off walls, writing, sleeping etc) has got me pondering more about this journey.
The common goal:
It seems a simple mission, get the boat from A to B as quickly as possible without breaking anything or anyone. Sounds simple but the enormity of such a task is more than meets the eye.
Firstly there is getting the boat ready for the trip, the Melbourne crew and helpers have spent months working through the ever growing jobs list to ensure the boat meets all of the required safety standards, an expensive and extensive mission in itself. Then there is all the extras to fit to make the journey as comfortable and safe as possible, additional water tanks, fuel tanks, new electrical and navigation systems, adding additional storage and refrigeration, testing all of the rigging, installing emergency rudders etc etc etc.
The list literally does go on and on and hats off should be made to anyone who has the patience and determination to work through this and get their boat to the start line of any offshore race. The ever increasing rules and regs and associated costs is definitely seeing fleet sizes dwindle for races such as these, but I guess it's all in the name of safety.
Then there is the people element, a journey of any sort can be made or shattered by the company you keep. In the yachting world it is a common scenario for best mates not be able to sail together as for some odd reason some people's personalities can change from mild and reserved to captain Bligh by simply putting a yacht wheel in their hands and an ocean under their boat. An odd phenomenon but a common one. There are also cases that the people you love and want to spend time with would rather stay home and poke hot forks in their eyes than go sailing. Sea sickness, fear and boredom are often reasons for spouses, friends and children not wanting to join in with your idea of a great time.
This results in people who don't necessarily know each other well sailing together and strong friendships are often forged after sharing such adventures. The nature of the beast requires you to live, eat and breath in extremely close quarters (there is no getting off or places to hide), run on little and disrupted sleep, recognise and rely on each others skills and strengths and work as a team to achieve the "common goal". A lot of the time on a long trip there is not much happening, the sails are set and the wind is constant so you find yourself sitting around, on the rail or in the cockpit (often wet and
cold) having conversations with people you simply would never have in any other situation. You certainly do reach deeper into people than at a typical cocktail party.
With all that said, I scoped the Samskara crew to find out their motivation and reasoning for undertaking this trip. What is it we are all seeking, is it ego driving us, the appeal of risk, the fun or the simple need for adventure?...
The answers were varied in depth and humor but the common threads were these:
"Sailing with mates" - its like doing anything with good friends, simply its bloody good fun! Everyone mentioned they wouldn't do it with just anyone - All
"Personal challenge - the simple challenge of being able to compete in and complete the trip" - James
"Great opportunity and adventure - a rare and amazing opportunity, trips like this don't happen everyday - very thankful and happy to be here!" - Jesse
"The overall challenge - competing in what equates to more than three Sydney Hobarts with longer offshore distances and challenges is an awesome challenge" - Nick
"Good friends, good food, good fun" - Rick
"Using the boat, sailing into a foreign port and sailing with good mates" - Captain Stoops
"The conversations, the ever changing conditions but mostly the piss-up at the other end" - Mike (surprise surprise)
"Why Not - a few weeks sailing - love it!" - Leon
For me it is all of the above along with the my infatuation with tropical paradises, I have never been to Vanuatu and am very much looking forward to the warmth, the people, the palm trees, my sarong and those quirky swim-to cocktail bars. I must admit if the race was Melbourne to Antarctica for example I too would be at home poking hot forks in my eyes!
So there you have it, pretty simple reasons for competing in a not so simple task. I hope this has given a better insight into what many find unfathomable or madness and it will perhaps ignite some pondering of your own to consider sailing away some time soon too?!
Must go as we have crew rehearsals on deck for our cabaret performance at the presentation night. It seems any race placement trophies are out of reach so we are going for gold on this one!
Signing off on behalf on the Samskara Crew, The Ships Cat.
PS: Oh yes and our progress... we should go through the pass between Noumea and the Isle of Pines tonight around midnight. After this we then have the last leg - 280 nautical miles to Vanuatu!! All is well everyone catching lots of sleep today as it will be all hands on deck tonight, the pass is only a few miles wide and surrounded by reef, so we will be all up double checking each other and ready for any weather changes that may occur. We are all looking forward to the sight of land!
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